


go easy on me

by crownsandbirds



Series: #TeamIronMan [2]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Iron Dad, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Science Boyfriends, it's all very soft mostly, lots of iron dad, stephen fell for tony while looking at all those futures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 07:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14848158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownsandbirds/pseuds/crownsandbirds
Summary: 'So you're saying Dr. Anthony Stark, the man with the biggest ego this side of the Atlantic, who built the two tallest buildings in Manhattan to let everyone know precisely how much of a genius billionaire he is, who has literally offered to buy the MIT for his, also a genius, adopted son in case he didn't pass the entrance exams, invites me weekly to his laboratory for the sole reason of enjoying my delightful, eidetic-memory-having company?''Yes.'"Tony and Stephen are tired and too old to have crushes, and yet here they are.





	go easy on me

Wong had a smile and a steaming cup of coffee for Stephen when he stepped through the golden, moving portal into the New York Sanctum. The welcoming, familiar sight of the sanctuary and the comfortable smell of fresh coffee did a more or less efficient job of helping Stephen's hands to stop shaking quite so badly. 

He could be worse. He also could be better. Far better. As a matter of fact, he could precisely list a number of items that, if provided in a decent amount of time, could improve both his life and those of others in a fairly quick manner. 

"Good afternoon, Stephen," Wong clapped a hand on his shoulder and handed him the cup. "You're back, I see."

"Wong, you know caffeine isn't good for me," Stephen protested weakly - caffeine shot adrenaline into his already very hyperactive system, made him terribly restless, and caused his hands to shake even more - but he'd had such a long day, and he was only human.

"Don't worry," Wong said, the smile never leaving his face, "I made it decaffeinated just for you. You look like you could use a pick-me-up."

Stephen took the coffee and let himself fall on the couch; his Cloak took the opportunity to wrap itself tighter around him, like a makeshift comforter. "I have no words to thank you enough."

Wong calmly sat down on the arm of the couch. "So, Stephen, talk to me," he said, using that tone of voice that let it be known that he intended to talk about things Stephen would much rather leave dead and buried in the back of his mind.

"I'd rather not, Wong, but thank you for the offer."

"How was your science friend in the big tower?" 

"Making things go boom, creating stuff to do all his chores for him, pushing the genius intern kid around his insane laboratory. The usual. What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to explain to me why you always return from your weekly visits to Stark Tower looking all jumpy."

"I do not."  _ yes, I do, and I'm lying through my teeth right now.  _

"What do you even do there all afternoon anyway? From what I know of your background, you're a medicine man, not an engineer. I don't see how you could be of use to Dr. Stark in these peaceful times we're living in."

"Stark is dead-set in understanding how my 'magical shenanigans' work. Scientifically speaking. From his point of view, I'm like a walking experiment holding the key to time travels and unlimited energy sources.  _ And _ possibly the explanation to how the primordial universe worked. Put simply, Stark believes my - our - abilities are the answer to every question in the world, if only he could  _ understand _ how this -" he nonchalantly created a small, shiny golden portal, as big as the palm of his hand, before shutting it, "can be an actual existing thing that doesn't come from another planet or gods."

Wong's face was very peaceful still, as if he'd heard all of this multiple times before. "I'm assuming he doesn't accept our standard explanations."

"Magic is bullshit, he says." Stephen could practically hear him saying it. "Everything is physics, he just needs to understand it."

"And I'm also assuming he won't take up on offers to come and study it himself at our Sanctum. He would be a fine addition to our small society."

"He's far too attached to his expensive toys and tall glass buildings."

"And to other things too, I suppose," Wong added with a very meaningful glint in his eyes. 

"What could you possibly mean by that?"

"Perhaps he has taken a liking to you, Stephen. Much similarly to his friendship with the 'genius intern kid', as you put it. I imagine being intellectually gifted is a lonely life. It's good to have someone who can keep up with you." 

Stephen raised his eyebrows in disbelief at what Wong was implying. "So you're saying Dr. Anthony Stark, the man with the biggest ego this side of the Atlantic, who built the two tallest buildings in Manhattan to let everyone know precisely how much of a genius billionaire he is, who has  _ literally _ offered to  _ buy the MIT  _ for his, also a genius, adopted son in case he didn't pass the entrance exams, invites me weekly to his laboratory for the sole reason of enjoying my delightful, eidetic-memory-having company?"

"Yes."

The laughter leaving his lips was absolutely skeptic. "I'm not known for being the nicest guest, Wong." 

"And  _ Dr. Anthony Stark _ isn't known for being the gentlest of hosts, and still you go there every week." Wong sighed and took the now-empty cup of coffee from Stephen’s nervous hands. “That’s not all I’m saying, my friend. You went through - so much while battling Thanos. And I heard about you seeking answers in billions of futures. That changes a person, in multiple ways. You know what I'm implying, you just refuse to see it."

Stephen didn't know what to answer to that, so he just wrapped his Cloak tighter around himself. 

-

As soon as Stephen left through the portal, Tony let out a big breath and sagged down on top of his desk, burying his face in his hands. 

"Everything alright, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, worried. True to his high schooler/college student nature, Peter was always worried and stressed out about something or other, and Tony's health and well-being were on the top ten of his long list of concerns. 

"Sure, kid, just a bit tired."

Tony Stark would be caught dead before admitting to his eighteen-year-old intern that he was lovesick with a wizard who wore robes and a sentient cloak.

"I'll get us both some coffee," the kid offered, eager to please like an overgrown and affectionate puppy, leaving his project behind (something involving chemistry engineering) and walking out through the sliding glass doors of the laboratory. 

"Yeah, you do that," Tony mumbled before straightening his back again and trying to focus. He silently thanked his multifunctional brain for allowing him to do work while daydreaming about the way Stephen had laughed, nearly startled at himself, at one of Peter’s awful Vine references.

FRIDAY's gentle robotic voice sounded throughout the room. "Boss, your blood pressure is slightly higher than usual.” 

“I’m perfectly alright, Fri, thank you.” he huffed as he heard quick footsteps coming towards the lab again. “...And of course Peter heard it.”

As annoying as it was, it sent a warmth through his artificial heart to see the kid hushing inside and putting a hand on his arm, looking genuinely concerned. People didn’t usually care this much about him in such a personal level.

“Mr. Stark? Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yes, Peter, I’m fine. Thanks for the coffee. Just go do your homework or something.” 

Peter let out a loud, long-suffering groan that made it clear exactly how young he is. “But I already got into MIT! And I have the best internship in the United States!”

“Just go find something to do while I close this up, and then we’ll have dinner, okay?”

“Ugh,  _ fine. _ ”

Tony’s hands were very much used to the procedures of closing up the “Dr. Potter” files, as he’d named the archives containing the results of his experiments with Strange. If he looked at Stephen’s picture hovering in front of him a bit longer than absolutely necessary, no one but him and FRIDAY’s non-judgemental artificial intelligence needed to know.

-

The day Captain Rogers and his squad of international criminals paid him a delightful visit after work, Tony arrived at the top floor of his tower to the image of Peter beaming up at him, face and hands covered in black soot, standing in front of shards and bits and pieces of machinery and glass. A big hole now decorated a considerable part of Tony's wall. One of the Iron Man suits stood next to Peter, and a big beaker containing a substance vaguely unknown to Tony on Peter's desk (the kid that been granted an official, custom-made desk for himself at the lab for his eighteenth birthday).

"Okay, freaky spider, surprise me," Tony said as a way of greeting, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

"Okay, okay, so -" Peter started excitedly as he looked around for a clean rag with which to clean his face and arms. 

The boy went on about his latest experiment - a series of trial and error methods to try and develop a stronger, more flexible substance for his webs (after Leipzig-Halle, Peter had found himself so absolutely  _ mad _ at how easily the ExVengers had managed to cut through them). Not satisfied with the successful results of that after some time, he had worked to make something that could resist blasts and explosions as well as possible. Cue the Iron Man suit next to him right now and the steaming hole on the wall, surrounded by dents - it had taken him three or four tries. Now, the suit's hands and gauntlets were covered with a sticky web, and Peter happily presented the efficiency of his new creation in holding back Iron Man's attacks. It wasn't perfect, he said, obviously, it wouldn't hold on for that long, but it was something. A very big something. 

When he was done explaining, Tony took a second to stare at the whole scenario in front of him and at how widely Peter was smiling, and felt proud tears coming up. 

He took a deep breath, put his hands on Peter's shoulders and hoped the huge grin on his face was properly showing how happy he was. Both as a scientist who was in love with every scientific discovery and as a mentor who adored this kid to bits. "Peter Benjamin Parker, you're a genius. I'm having  _ so many _ ideas involving that thing of yours -"

"I am, too, sir!" Peter exclaimed. He was bouncing on his tiptoes now. It was infuriatingly adorable. 

"- but, for now, we clean everything up and  _ you _ get to choose what we're having for dinner. I think we need to figure out patenting for that too. I'll ask Pepper."

"Hey, Mr. Stark!" said Peter, as if it'd just occurred to him. "Aren't you meeting up with dr. Strange tonight? I wanted to ask him if it would be a bother to trying out my new web against his golden magical thingies." 

"Yes, I am, and don't call them that around him." Tony's heart, already very light at that moment, burst for a second with an impromptu idea. "Tell you what. I'll invite him over, you do your testing, and the three of us have a celebratory dinner. Peps is in Washington right now but you can Facetime her later to boast. And call Aunt May to let her know you're sleeping over."

"Oh, man, really? That's so great! Can I really choose dinner tonight?!"

Dinner was a delicate, important subject at Stark Tower, and Tony kept all for himself the rights to choose the food daily. Peter could hardly believe the honor. 

Tony clapped him on the back. "You're the MVP, buddy. I'm gonna go change and you just tell Fri what you want."

Tony left the lab to the sounds of Peter happily making very specific orders at Shake Shack and Pizza Hut, still bouncing on his tiptoes. He arrived at his room with his phone already pressed to his ear, trying not to look too much like a lovesick teenager calling his crush. 

"Hey, Strange."

-

Stephen had taken the afternoon to nap, a concept that had been absolutely foreign to him all the way from his high school years up until the night of the accident. He still felt guilty about taking time to himself, to take care of his mental health and well-being, but he figured that, after dying and coming back, he deserved to catch a couple hours of sleep. Work at the Sanctum was far from being the easiest in the world. 

Unfortunately, his mind seemed unwilling to let him rest properly, and he'd spent the entire time having dream sequences consisting of flashbacks from the many futures in which Tony Stark did his best to save the world over and over, only to fail every single time except for one. When he was woken by the buzzing of his phone, it was with his heart beating heavily and his hands trembling badly, and one or two tears trailing down his temples. It took him a few tries to answer the call. 

_ "Hey, Strange." _

"Oh, yes, hey, Stark. How are you?" he said, as polite as possible, doing his best to not sound heartbroken. 

" _ Amazing, actually. Genius intern kid did something awesome, and we wanted to celebrate. Eat things that are bad for our health and watch stupid movies. What do you say? _ "

Stephen sat up straighter. Was he being invited to dinner? For no reason other than the (very) debatable pleasure of his company? "Sounds delightful. But, uh, is that all you want from me?"

" _ Well, actually the kid wanted to test out some stuff with you after dinner. _ " There it was. "If all you want from me is a lab rat for your insane experiments, I’m more than willing to help, but please don't pretend you actually enjoy my company, Stark." Stephen bit off, tiredly. He was too old to be disillusioned by love. 

" _ Wait. Wait, what? What the fuck? _ " Tony sounded almost insulted, and Stephen was too mentally exhausted for that.

"Why do you always have to make this look so professional?" he snarled and was taken aback at how much he sounded like his old self. "If that's all you want, then don't try to make us sound like we're friends."

"Jesus, Stephen, you're so smart but you can be seriously so stupid! Why would you even want to spend time with me outside the lab? Why would you even want to be friends with me?"

At the accusation of him being stupid (stupid! He'd been called everything insulting under the sun before, but never stupid), Stephen hastily got up, threw the phone on the bed, put on some clothes, and created a portal that shoved him right in front of an informally dressed Tony Stark, still in his bedroom. He tried not to stare around too much, and focused on the problem at hand, ignoring the way Tony's eyes glinted when he was startled by his arrival. 

" _ Excuse me _ ," Stephen shoved his hands in his pockets to hide how they were trembling, "I have 3 PhD’s and 2 fucking post-docs and, for heaven’s sake, when have I ever shown any sign that I did not wish to be your friend?"

Tony's surprise was shaken off very quickly to give away to righteous anger. "Oh, I don't know, maybe every single time you leave my lab like you're running away from the plague!"

"Because  _ you're _ the one who gets awfully restless the moment I step into your tower! Oh, my God, are you seriously that blind?"

"I - what the fuck?" 

Stephen was so tired. He was 14,000,605 futures too tired. He could still feel on his skin the dampness of the tears he'd shed on his sleep for the futures in which Tony Stark, this beautiful, genius, remarkable man had died trying to save the world. 

He took two steps forward and, before he could think more about this, took Tony's face between his hands and kissed him.

Tony immediately melted. He tilted his head and allowed Stephen to deepen the kiss in the same instinctive way as he breathed, as if he had spent nights awake thinking about this, tuning his body to Stephen's fingers and his lips to his kisses. The sad beauty of all those deaths and losses in all those possible futures gave way to the tangible, human warmth of Tony's skin against his. 

When they parted, Tony took a shaky breath, his lips reddened and wet. Stephen, heart pounding wildly, wanted to kiss him again, but wanted even more to hear what he had to say. 

"I've been wanting to do this for months," Tony whispered, smiling and looking embarrassed at himself. 

"I've been wanting you since I saw you in 14,000,605 different futures. By the 2054th one, I was - oh, God - so fiercely in love."

Tony let himself relax further in Stephen's arms, burying his face on the crook of his neck. Stephen chuckled with affection, grasped him tighter, and asked, "Did I successfully manage to leave you speechless? I'd thought that rather impossible."

It was beautiful to see Tony blushing. "Just - let's go find the kid before he finds us."

Stephen pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Let's."

 

-

“ - the only explanation I can find is that the portals create a sort of small, mostly harmless black hole that allows the sorcerer to go between spaces and dimensions and time, and maybe you also develop the ability to structure - “ Tony cut himself off as Stephen stepped far too close into his personal space, eyes focused on Tony’s lips.

“Why did you stop?” Stephen asked softly. “Keep going.”

“Well - uh,” Tony chuckled, trying to swallow some of his nerves at having Stephen so close. After last night's kiss and exchanged confessions, Tony had shakily invited Stephen to sleep over after dinner and after Peter was done with his tests, which was gratefully accepted, but both men had been so tired from their daily lives that they just passed out together on Tony's king-sized bed, clutching at each other. And now they were back to work, but there was no way to not notice how they brushed each other's arm and waist in every minimum opportunity. 

“And here I thought you were going to shut me up with a kiss," Tony fidgeted with his hands. 

“Why in the world would I do that?" Stephen sounded genuinely confused. "Your mind is one of the most beautiful things about you. I wouldn’t dream of interrupting its flow. Finish what you were saying and then I’ll kiss you.”

“Okay, um, yeah. I think you develop the ability to structure a - sort of a dimensional loophole where your cognitive capabilities manage to travel back and forth in space and time, maybe something involving the fourth dimension, like a hypercube sort of thing, but I have no idea how that would work biologically and chemically.” Tony took a shuddering breath and licked his lips. “That’s all, I’m - I’m done. Quite done.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, quite.”

“I agree with what you said and I think the chemistry involved can be analyzed more deeply. We’ll work with blood samples, maybe. Now,” Stephen took Tony’s waist in his hands. “Come here.”

It was so easy for Tony to lose himself in Stephen, who was so absurdly gentle it almost brought Tony to tears. The shaking, scarred, gorgeous hands that had once effortlessly saved dozens of lives now touched his skin as if it was the most precious thing they had ever had the privilege to feel. 

He didn't notice Peter's arrival until Stephen removed one hand from his hips to cast a quick spell and stop a box of glass beakers and laboratory tools the boy dropped from falling to the floor.

"Careful there, Peter," Stephen said gently as he manoeuvred the box to the nearest table, his lips still almost touching Tony's. Tony regrettably opened his eyes and took a step back. 

Peter was staring at them with his mouth agape. "I'm just - " he gestured wildly at them. "Finally! Oh, my God, finally, I was so close to staging an intervention! What did it take, a miracle?!"

Stephen's smirk was fond down to its very foundations. "Not a miracle. Magic."

Tony pushed Stephen's face away from his with a disbelieving laugh. "Oh, shut up, you preposterous wizard."

  
He was finding himself rather inclined to agree with him, though. 

**Author's Note:**

> 1- in my hc, tony is autistic and has adhd, which is not as strong as peter's. stephen is hyperactive and probably (definitely) has ocd.  
> 2- the timeline's a bit wonky, don't look too much into it.  
> 3- adhd peter bouncing on his tiptoes is the mental image that keeps me alive.  
> 4- don't look too much into peter's experiment too, i'm a simple med student who could hardly be worse at physics and stuff like that.


End file.
